Our Kennel Name

One of my work mates gave me the idea. 

 It originates from one of our African languages:  (“Tau” meaning: Lion; and “Bera” meaning: Bear) which incorporates the appearance of the Chow Chow. 

  I thought that as we were living in the new South Africa, it would be appropriate to incorporate an  "africanism" into our kennel name

As a family...

 ... we have always loved animals and through the years we have had many non-human family members in our home.  Of course having children always means that they want what their friends have - so we went through the Silk Worm, Fish, Mice, Rat, Gerbil, Budgie, & Cockatiel stages.  When my mom – “Granny Sheasby” came to stay she brought her hand reared Indian Ring-neck “Tweetie” with her to add to the menagerie.   

We have also had cats (lots of them) through the years

 Starting off with Siamese cats, which have always been very dear to my heart from my childhood, and ending up with the cats, which my children had acquired in their own homes and which in turn needed new homes as they were leaving the country.  Our favorite breed of cat now is the Maine Coone, the bigger the better.  The fact that both cats which came to us via the children cannot stand the sight of one another is another story but at present we have our Maine Coone cat called "Rubbish" or "Fat Cat" for obvious reasons, and one fluffy black cat called "Shadow" courtesy of my youngest daughter Dawn, and "Marmite" a short haired black cat courtesy of my oldest daughter Louise.  

 

We have also had various breeds of dogs.

  My husband Dave was the dog lover - I am ashamed to say that I tolerated them as long as they stayed outside - keeping all their hair and dirt to themselves.  To me their sole purpose was as watchdogs - boy how things can change.  That is what the wonderful breed called the Chow Chow has done to me.......... 

The aim of our Kennel was originally to breed beautiful babies because we were so proud of our beautiful Chows Taitzi and Sashalee - only to discover that breeding was not as easy as one would think it would be.  I so desperately wanted to have furry grandchildren - but sadly this was not to be. 

Instead we had wonderful companions, who stood in for our 2 wonderful human children who spread their wings and flew to other countries - never were we left alone - we always had our beautiful canine children who loved us unconditionally, who made us happy when we were sad, made us forget that our human children were not close by.

 Attending shows away from home gave Dave and myself reason to spend quality time together - so important in a marriage – these times together left us with wonderful memories of our chows, which will always keep them near. 

We now start on new adventures – making wonderful memories with the next generation of Chows.  Our hearts still ache remembering those who are gone but the ache eases with each day and is made easier by having wonderful new Chow babies in our home.